Analysis Of The Film Gattaca

The 1997 production of the film Gattaca stars Ethan Hawke as Vincent Freeman and Jude Law as Jerome Morrow. Gattaca is a dystopia that is focused on genetics and the superiority of those who were genetically modified before birth versus the difficult life of those who were conceived naturally. The film explores Aristotle’s element of spectacle through the DNA sequence in the opening credits, the staircases, and love scene. DNA is held with high regard in Gattaca. In the beginning credits of the movie the names of the actors, producers, and filmmakers flash across the screen. The letters A, T, C, and G in the names were in a different color than the other letters in the names. This is because these are the first letters of Adenine, Thymine,

There are two instances in the movie where DNA is shown, but not in the form that you would think. DNA is represented through spiral staircases. The only time we see these staircases are in the geneticist office at the beginning of the movie, and in Jerome’s apartment. The spiral staircase is meant to look like a double helix and it helps bring across the emphasis of DNA in the places that it is found. For example, DNA is key to a geneticist job, so of course there will be DNA represented. However, DNA being shown in Jerome’s apartment is different. The symbolism of the DNA has a meaning in showing that Vincent with the help of Jerome’s DNA will become Jerome. However, there is one point in the movie where Jerome, a Paraplegic, climbs his way up the staircase to meet an investigator. This scene is very symbolic in the sense that a genetically superior man has to climb up the DNA ladder in order to accomplish a goal. This is almost identical to what those who are not genetically superior have to do on a daily basis. Early on in the movie the DNA broker tells Vincent that “you could go anywhere with this guy’s [Jerome’s] helix under his arm.” (Ebert) I think that this line is both literally and metaphorically important to the story. There is a scene in the movie where Vincent is slowly making his way up the stair just looking around and this shows that Jerome’s “helix” being the stairs is under his arm. However, metaphorically it shows that Vincent is climbing up Jerome’s DNA ladder in order to accomplish his lifelong goals of going to space. The spectacle of the staircase meaning is hidden in the movie, in order to find it a person must be looking. Gattaca is full of instances that where the cinematographer takes control of the direction of the